Halloween
by amaXdear
Summary: Sirius and Remus drink, and reminisce. OotP, SiriusLupin friendship, mentions of slight RemusTonks


"Happy Halloween, Padfoot."

Sirius looked up to find a grim-looking Lupin in the kitchen doorway.

"Please tell me that's firewhisky."

Lupin grinned and dropped heavily into a chair. He slammed the bottle down on the table, turning the label so Sirius could approve. "The best your money can buy."

Sirius summoned two cups and poured a generous amount into each. "Is it worth asking how you came to spend the Noble and Most Ancient Fortune of Black without the knowledge of its master? Not that it matters, of course, but one can be curious."

"Yes, one can. And one can also learn to keep the key to one's vault in a more inconspicuous place than one's bedroom table. Speaking of which," he added with a grin, taking a swig of whisky. "Why on Earth do you still have those Muggle centerfolds up on your wall?"

Sirius grinned and drained his glass. "I put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back and now I can't get the damn things off. Not just one spell, mind--when I got bored, or just tired of spending time with the 'rents, I sat on my bed and cast Sticking Charms on things. I could probably stand in front of our old school photo and cast spells for a solid week without getting it to un-Stick."

"Ah, well. We forgot a toast," Lupin realized. He poured their glasses again; a Refilling charm would always worked, but after a few times it lost some flavor. They wouldn't notice the difference later, once they got well and truly drunk, but now… this was the good stuff.

"That we did, Moony my friend. Care to do the honors?"

Lupin thought and raised his glass seriously. "To James, Lily, Frank, Alice, and everyone we lost in the First War."

"And to punishing those responsible," Sirius added, tapping the glasses. Both men downed their drinks quickly and the glasses made identical thumps on the table. "I hate Halloween."

And then, the reminiscing began.

---

"And then McGonagall--"

"No, no, it was Slughorn--"

"Slughorn just took points, McGonagall gave out detentions and we definitely got in detention for this--"

"Remus you prat, why the bloody hell would McGonagall have been in the dungeons?"

"Excuse me, were you there?" Sirius grumbled and Remus grinned smugly. "I thought not. And McGonagall shows up--in the middle of the night, mind you--in that god-awful dressing gown. The paisley one, remember?"

"The one with the lace?"

"That's the one."

"Oh God that was hideous. Was this the day you--?"

"Mm-hm."

"And James told--?"

"Oh yes."

"And she never--?"

"Never again."

They burst out laughing, and the sound of merriment drew Kreacher.

"Master is up late, Master and the werewolf, Kreacher wonders why he is here… Kreacher wonders, here drunk instead of doing favors for the Mudbloods… oh poor, poor Mistress, to see what goes on in her house, oh what would Mistress say…?"

"I dunno, Kreacher, why don't we ask her?" Sirius said, quite cheerfully. He stood, only slightly unsteady, and picked up the house-elf, tucking him against his side like an football. Grinning widely, Lupin followed--the bottle and glasses still in his hand. Kreacher muttered to himself constantly, cursing, as the strange party made his way to the hall. No, they weren't drunk. Yet.

"Do you mind, Remus?"

"Not at all."

With a dramatic sweep of his arms, Sirius parted the curtains. "YOU!" the portrait screamed, apparently on instinct. For a second she paused, taking in the odd situation.

"Hello, Mummy dearest," Sirius greeted. "I'm getting drunk with my half-blood werewolf friend in the house of your forefathers in order to commemorate the death of my blood-traitor friend and his Muggle-born wife. What say you?"

"FILTHY ABOMINATION! YOU BRING SHAME TO THIS NOBLE HOUSE, SHAME AND DISHONOR, LETTING THE SCUM OF THE EARTH ABASE THEMSELVES WITHIN THESE WALLS--"

The usual followed--curses, oaths, insults, self-righteous whining. After a few minutes, Lupin got bored. He yawned and tried to pour some more firewhisky. Sirius dropped Kreacher happily and took his glass, tugging the curtains closed.

"You read my mind, old pal. So, Kreacher, satisfied? That's what she'd say and that's what she did say, now go hide in the attic. Come on, Moony." Sirius swung an arm around his friend's shoulders and they returned to the kitchen, swaggering. Okay, maybe they were a little more drunk than they realized.

Almost as soon as they entered the room, the mood sobered. Sirius dropped into a chair and took a small sip of his whisky, staring into the fire.

"You know, being here makes me remember why I loved Hogwarts," he said suddenly. "You could stand for something without it being a constant fight, you know? And it was like, no matter how many people hated you, they would still stand by you, because we all cared. Like that one time in sixth year, 'member? After-- the thing with Snape. And everyone knew that you and me had something to do with it because of how he looked at us, and all they knew was that it was something really dangerous. Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were avoiding us, but then Avery caught you with that hex… Three-quarters of the school paraded through the Hospital Wing trying to see you, you know."

"Yes, I remember." Lupin looked wistful. "That was right before my dad died."

"Yeah."

They were both silent, and Sirius spoke again. "That was when it all became real for me. I mean, I had left home right before, but when I went to Hogwarts is was like, 'oh well, we're still kids,' and then a Death Eater used Dark Magic against you… and your dad got caught in the middle of that Muggle Protection Law fight and Regulus became a Death Eater and Clarisse…"

Sirius swallowed, tears pricking the corner of his eyes. He took a large gulp of firewhisky. Clarisse Montag. The first person their age who had died in the war, the girl he had taken to Hogsmeade three days before she was killed. On her way home for the Easter holidays--to her Muggle parents--she had run into a Death Eater. They could never know for certain, but he was convinced it had been Bellatrix.

"Clarisse… I didn't believe it," Remus murmured. "She was just so innocent. Like--like a character from a book, the exact character who you would kill off… blonde and blue-eyed, kind… curious and thoughtful…"

"And none of us really knew her," Sirius added softly. "That was what made it worse. How can you mourn someone you don't know? There was something there, though. I liked her. Could have loved her, maybe, if there had been more time."

"Rachel knew her," Lupin said bitterly. "She was her neighbor. You remember Rachel?"

Sirius scowled. "Bitch. I _never_ knew what you saw in her."

"She was all right. Smart, fun to talk to."

"Well yeah, nice to chit-chat with in class, but honestly, you wasted too much time with her. There were plenty of girls who would gladly have fawned over you--"

"Oh come on--"

"No, I'm serious! You were the quiet one, the smart one, the mysterious one. All those scars, the maturity. There were plenty of girls in our year who were ready and willing to tear you away from those books. And instead, you went with _Rachel_, prim little prefect Rachel who wouldn't even sit with us at breakfast because Gryffindors are low-class."

"And I paid for it," Lupin sighed. "You guys thought I was exaggerating when I said most of the world despised werewolves, remember? Rachel was the proof. That was why I was so reluctant for James to say anything to Lily."

"Yes, well… Lily was something else, wasn't she?" Sirius said fondly.

"_Exactly_ what James needed. Although there were those rumors about the two of you," Lupin grinned.

"Oh please," he scoffed. "Lily and I never would have come close to working it out. I wondered about _you_ sometimes, though."

"She would have walked all over me," Lupin chuckled. "No chance. And she was much too nice for you. You need someone like Tracy Callaway. Remember her? She was in Ravenclaw, the Seeker? She was every bit as arrogant as you and you went all puppy-eyed every time you saw her."

"Except she was friends with Rachel. We went on a few dates, but then we were in the Room of Requirement--wipe that smirk off your face, we were just talking… sort of close together, I'll admit it. I was--how shall I say it?"

"Putting the moves on her?" Lupin suggested, chuckling.

"You are a Seer. Yes, that, and it was going all well until she brought up you."

Lupin choked on his drink. "What? _Why_?"

"Oh, she said something really snobby. Something like 'how can you be so cool when you're friends with a loser like Lupin' or whatever. Turns out dear old Rachel spread some _very_ nasty rumors about you, mate."

"'Course. She had to, didn't she? I had to tell Dumbledore she knew and he made her swear she wouldn't say anything. She needed some excuse as to why, after a year and a half, she suddenly couldn't stand the sight of me." He scowled. "Never did get a date after that."

"All of us left Hogwarts unlucky in love, except for Prongs, then."

They had made it through the bottle and Remus cast the first Refilling Charm. True darkness had fallen at last; the only source of light was the crackling fire. Sirius opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated.

"What?"

Nervously, it seemed, Sirius took a long, slow sip. The whisky was warm and comforting--liquid courage for the reluctant Gryffindor.

"You and Tonks," he said simply.

Remus paused, glass halfway to his mouth. He took a sip, and lowered it slowly. "There's me. There's Tonks. There is no me and Tonks, Sirius."

"Fine. Just Tonks, then. I've seen you with her. She makes you… different."

"Oh?"

"Different, like when you were with Rachel."

He laughed bitterly, tipping his head back and refilling his glass as quickly as he had just emptied it. "I thought we just agreed Rachel was a bitch?"

"But you still loved her. And… and Tonks acts different around you, too." Sirius waited for a response. There was none. "I mean, she tries not to look at you as much. When you talk, she makes eye contact just for a second, but when she's talking she can't look at you. It's like she's afraid her brain filter would just disappear. But she never takes her eyes off you otherwise, and she smiles a lot."

"Stop, Sirius," Lupin said curtly.

"No," he said quietly. "What do you think of her?"

"I-- I don't know," he admitted, running a hand through his hair distractedly. "She's… different."

"Yes, definitely different. Like Andromeda on drugs."

"She's refreshing. To have in the Order, you know. Funny, and she gets the job done as well."

"Remus, I agree entirely, but you and I both know that's not what I meant. Romantically, what do you think of her?"

"If I were thirteen years younger or she thirteen years older, and if I had a job, and if I had access to a potion that made me not become a raving monster every month, maybe. And that's even assuming she'd like a boring, emotionally unavailable failed teacher like me."

Sirius reached over and clapped him on the back. "I think she would."

"Drop it, Sirius."

For a second, he did. "You're not emotionally unavailable. A little standoffish sometimes, and too righteous, but a damn good friend."

"Thanks, Padfoot."

"No problem, Moony." Sirius reached for the bottle and sloppily poured them each another glass. His hands were shaking. "To Prongs."

"Prongs," Lupin said dutifully. "And to Wormtail--the way he should have been," he added hastily at Sirius' look. "The Wormtail we knew at school, who was brave enough to be a Gryffindor and good enough to stick by us no matter what."

"To Wormtail," Sirius said grudgingly. "But I don' like him."

"Me neither." They drank, and Lupin sighed. "And then there were two."

"The pack," his friend said, a little morose. "No hangers-on."

"It seems so wrong," Lupin said, staring into the fire again. "I mean if it had been one of us, it would still be sad, but nothing tragic. We were just… just there, but James had something. He had a family, a future…"

"Better than us, too. We would have killed Peter. James wouldn't've."

"Yeah." The fire crackled. "You think-- you think we'll get out of this alive?"

Sirius stared into his glass. "No," he whispered honestly.

"Me neither."

---

The next morning, Kingsley and Tonks decided to drop by Grimmauld Place before shift. They entered the kitchen to find two slumbering men, two empty glasses, and a dying fire.

"Well this is interesting," Kingsley said after a moment. "I've never seen Remus get that drunk before. Sirius--well, it doesn't surprise me."

"It was Halloween last night," Tonks reminded him, walking over without tripping over a single thing. She picked up the glasses, cast an adequate _scourgify_, and put them back in the cabinet. She had just gone to throw away the empty bottle of Ogden's best when her boot caught on something--probably air. The resulting smash woke both men, who jumped up and scrambled for wands.

"Relax," Kingsley said, pointing his wand at the fire. A cauldron appeared there. He flicked his wand again, and a variety of odd ingredients flew from the cabinets into it. "Guaranteed hangover cure," he explained as Sirius groaned, averting his eyes from the light.

"I've tried all of them, nothing really works," Sirius said.

"This one does," Tonks said with finality. "Trust me, I've tried it. Bloody brilliant. You boys all right?" she asked. Her voice was just a little bit quieter, and it didn't miss Sirius' notice that her eyes were on Lupin.

"We're fine," Lupin said, allowing himself a small smile, looking at her back. "I've had worse Halloweens."

A smile flickered on Tonks' lips.

"I'm sure."


End file.
